We Laughed but There Were also Tears...

Perhaps it was cabin fever that brought us out to Show and Tell this past Saturday - but it didn't matter as 17 of us squished  around two tables at McCaffrey's Coffee House for our February gathering as we overtook the air space with our items's stories, eliciting laughter but also more tears than usual...

Sign posted in Montana at a reservatio

There were photographs of a vacation with an unusual sign such as the one to the right at a Reservation in Montana. Seriously?



  


and photographs of a 'perfect' day with the dogs who meant so much to the owner and their family...


and of family members such as memories of a monumental haircut and a saved bag of hair...

Michael gets his locks cut off...

Or a trip to the Ukraine where journalists took shots from their elbows. Now one  wonders what has become of those once idealistic youth with all that's happening in their country/

UW Girls Volley Ball Team

a photo of a UW Girls Volleyball in the 70's where one learned life lessons and the true meaning of parental sacrifice as a Mom drove over 3 hours to watch half an hour of a game ...

Black tar sand from Iwo Jima

                                                                       


A close friend sharing a cherished gift from Iwo Jima of bottled black tar sand...

An inheritance of meaningful items such as the key of a sewing table drawers not filled with money but memories of sewing time together with a precious Grandma.  The inheritor wears that key daily on a necklace close to her heart.



A grandma who knew right from wrong and had black boarders in a town where that was frowned upon. Here's her copy of Uncle Tom's cabin with a personal inscription, "The cheerful smile of a friendly face,Makes this old world a pretty good place."

? of how to keep Baptismal hand made gowns                                   
Beautiful handmade christening gowns that need a place to be seen and preserved for posterity sake...

Uncle used phone wires to make sculptures
or wonderful wire sculptures created by an  Uncle who  who worked for the phone company and ...

                                      Madison's Paul's Book Store on State Street                            

Cool 60's teenage hang out memories of downtown Madison's State Street 

POW bracelet and the story of the missing soldier

A son's high school project of choosing a POW to wear a bracelet to commemorate the missing soldier until his whereabouts were discovered. Eventually there was a meeting of that soldier's family where the bracelet was given to the family and a duplicate made ...

                         

4 medals worn for an  'unplanned' extended European vacation many years ago creating lifelong friendships... 

the memories a simple Chinese lacquer box can evoke...



and the  importance of root cellars at this time of year for early settlers survival on beets and potatoes ...

Many stories brought us together on a cold winter's day where we arrived as strangers but left as friends...